Shattered
by Mystery23girl
Summary: A young seventeen year old wealthy girl found murdered on the stairs in her own house two days before the wedding in late 1800s. The detective are forced to investigate a case with a small information about the murder while their break is over from work. They will try so hard to track down in order to find her killer.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: ****THIS COLD CASE SHOW AND CHARACTERS DON'T BELONG TO ME EXCEPT MY OWN CHARACTERS THAT ARE NOT IN THE SHOW.**

**I know there are some grammar errors. If you find some errors, please let me know. I would be happy to change that. Also I know it is a wrong year date. I wrote in the past 2012 too. **

**Please no rude comments. Thank you. Hope you enjoy it :).  
**

* * *

**Shattered**

_December 2__nd__, 1879_

_It was a cold and terrible winter. A monster blizzard stormed outside. The strong wind blew hard, almost like as if the hurricane was coming. The vision was poorly, looked like a fog. Heavy snows poured down hard. Load of snow packed up quickly. They couldn't see roads well. Snows pounded hard against the window._

_While sitting on the chair, the young intelligent seventeen year old woman, Estella Ibbs glanced out a window, pondering hard. She didn't know how long it had been last. She was busy with making up her mind about what she should do. A dozen of thoughts appeared in her mind and running all over her mind, even she can't think straight. It was too much for her._

_Clang!_

_She flinched at the sound of tapping against the wine glass. She leaned back to sit up straight and then pulled her eyes away from the window to look at the older man who stood, tapped the wine glass with a spoon. He had a wide smile on his face but barely showed his teeth._

_"__I like to toast someone." John Rivers spoke a bit loud enough to be heard. Everybody stopped chanting and murmuring, turned to full attention to him._

_"__Estella," John nodded toward the young woman who sat at the end of the elongate table with her father and the young man goes by Douglas Rivers on each side. "I shall you be honor to be my new daughter. I would like to toast Estella for wedding." John lifted his glass of wine up in the air. "To Estella."_

_"__To Estella." Everybody repeated, boosting their glasses up._

_"__Why thank you," Estella blushed. Douglas reached his hand to squeeze her hand and gave her a warm smile._

_The door opened. Estella looked up. The fifteen year old girl with a sullen face walked around the table, serving breads on the table. Then she caught Estella's glimpse._

_Their eyes met each other._

_"__Thank you, Hannah. Go get us some soy milk for us. Please." Sam Ibbs pulled the napkin out and tucked in his collar of the neck. Hannah gazed down at Mr. Ibbs and then gave Estella a scared look before she left._

_Estella wasn't sure to know why but she had a bad feeling like as if Hannah needed to tell her something's wrong. She washed her intense feeling away and pulled her full attention to the crowd. She rejoined in and smiled at everyone who congrats her for engagement._

_One week later, the entire house was empty. The dark hallway was empty. No signs of anyone. The kitchen was dark. Everything was dark except the living room, the music was on. The black disc whirled around. Round. Round. _

_While Estella's beautiful face turned into a cold and gray flesh. She stayed on her side on the wooden stairs, unmoved._

_Estella's body was scrawled on the middle of the stairs that was halfway to the bottom. Her eyes were closed. Her neck cocked into a strange angle._

_The black disc spun around. Round… Round…_

133 years later…

* * *

It was beginning of January, a cold winter outside. Inside the whole precinct was quiet, almost empty. Everyone was gone except few people who sat in their desks, concentrating on their own cases. Lilly Rush was the one of them.

She felt like the entire police business slowed down. She already had a plan to leave work early and go home. She wanted to make a nice ice tea and snuggled into the comfortable bed all alone with no interrupts at her door. She finished the last paperwork, closed a brown folder, and tucked it into the drawer.

The bell rang as the elevator door opened.

The young light-skinned woman with a black braid hair stepped out from the elevator with a heavy-looking guy in the shabby suit.

"You won't believe this but my daughter wants to call her child's name." Kat Miller said.

"What is it?" Nick Vera said.

"Mahatma Gandhi."

Nick looked at her strangely. Kat held her hands up, "Don't look at me. My child is weird but hey, she is ten."

Nick chuckled.

"Or she wants to call her child, Curtis."

"After Curtis Bell the A.D.A?"

"No. After Phil from the Future show," Kat smirked at how Nick got jealous pretty quickly about Curtis Bell who she used to date last year. "Can't help but being jealous?"

"I'm not jealous." Kat can tell that Nick lied.

"Okay, suit yourself." She said.

"Ready?" Lilly said to Kat.

"I'm going home and sleep. My daughter will sleep over at her friend's house tonight which that means I will be alone in the whole peaceful house so hell yeah."

Lilly chuckled. She grabbed her purse and jacket.

Scotty came out from other room, saw the gangs standing around, and looked like they were ready to leave.

"Wait for me." Scotty held his finger up in the air as he scurried toward them. Lilly began to follow Kat and Nick to the elevator.

Scotty caught up with Lilly, walked along with her. "That's a good thing we are finally going home early."

"Yeah, believe it or not, it is my first time since."

"I was supposed to meet my brother and his wife for dinner this evening but turned out it was cancelled since Emilio got sick. They can't find a babysitter so they had to stay home and take care of him. That means I'm going home and get myself a dinner all alone." Scotty said, with a disappointed sigh after he said the last words.

"That sounds great." Lilly joked lightly.

"I once asked Nick and Kat to come over so I can get a company but they already got their own plans. So, it's up to you. Don't you want to have a dinner with me?"

"Gee, I don't know…" Lilly said with a considered look. "Are you going to buy dinner?"

Scotty began to chuckle.

"What?"

"I actually thought about cooking dinner."

"Oh… well, you know that I'm a big fan of homemade dinner."

"Great. I'm thinking about cooking, "The Famous Italian Spaghetti". Do you want some?"

"As long as I heard the "famous" word that means that might be good. So, I'm in." Lilly said.

"Good." Scotty grinned. "Gladly, that I have a company tonight."

Once they were about to get in the elevator, Detective John Stillman appeared from his office.

"Ah. You are all here." Detective John Stillman approached to the crew. His hands were in his pocket. He fixed a serious gaze at them.

"Yeah, we are about to leave." Scotty reported.

"I'm afraid so. You can't leave yet."

"Why?" Kat pulled her eyebrows down.

"I had a talk with my good friend for a long time today. He worked on the history of family trees. He once tracked down on his ancestors and found out that one of the family member's good friends was murdered. The case was unsolved since. He really wanted to know about her death or what happened to her. He asked me for a favor. I finally gave in. I have to return a favor for him. Look like we have an open case for you, guys. It has been tiny problem."

The detectives let out a loud groan. Lilly guessed that her plan had not worked out. Her plan was ruined. She let her purse sliding down her arm.

"What case?" Nick sighed.

"What problem?" Scotty said.

"Okay, I admit that. It is actually a huge problem."

"Well, tell us." Kat said.

"What is it?" Lilly glanced at his face carefully.

He pressed his lips tightly before he opened his mouth to speak, "Okay, you won't like this but… It happened in late 1800s."

Lilly's eyes grew wide, her jaws almost dropped.

"I'm sorry?" As if Scotty told him to come again.

Nick turned to Lilly, "If we find her killer, shall we need to dig the grave and arrest the dead body then?"

"Well, it will be easier if we got ourselves a ghost whisperer." Lilly muttered.

* * *

Back to the storage where the detectives hung around, reading old stuffs that John Stillman gave them. Bunch of old pictures, few of yellow faded papers, and an old diary.

"No way that we will find some lead." Lilly said.

"That's too impossible." Kat shook her head.

"Need me to call Melinda Gordon?" Nick said with a joke tone as he walked in the storage room.

"Ha-ha, very funny." Kat said dryly.

"Oh look, what I found." Scotty pulled a small torn yellowish paper out of a diary.

Lilly snatched it out and studied on the small golden piece of paper. It was written in tiny black cursive.

"I barely read that one." Scotty said, looking over her shoulder.

Lilly brought the paper to her face to take a close look.

YOU MAKE A BIG MISTAKE…

"You made a big mistake…" Lilly read it out.

Scotty raised his eyebrows up, "That's interesting."

"Sound like warning?" Nick made a considered face.

"Or threatening?" Lilly remarked.


	2. Chapter 2

Back to the storage room, the detectives continued trying to find any clues that link to the murdered victim of Estella Ibbs.

"Some pages were missing." Kat said as she flipped pages through the diary. "Mr. O'Brien surely brought those terrible evidences."

"Maybe he ripped it out and hid it." Nick shrugged.

"If he ripped it out, then why would he want to hide it if he never born in 1800s." Kat almost sounded irritated at his ridiculous statement.

"Okay, forget it. This case is definitely out of this question." Scotty sighed.

"Scotty—"

"No, Lilly. This case that has over hundred years, how possible we can find a killer? No leads. No profiles. No documents. No weapons. No killer. All we got is a piece of old papers, photos with no names, a warning note, and a diary written by young poor girl named Hannah Trindler."

"What if she wrote about the murder?" Kat buzzed in.

"Yeah, what if she witnessed the murder? She may know who." Lilly agreed with Kat's words.

"This case would be toughest ever." Nick said. "And more interesting…"

Kat rolled her eyes.

"So… we shall try to read a diary?" Lilly said.

"Yeah…" Kat agreed, looking up to Scotty for his answer.

"That's all we got." Scotty sighed heavily.

"Alright, who would read first?" Lilly asked.

"Me." Kat volunteered immediately. She turned around the diary and flipped back to the first page.

"Read me out." Nick said.

Kat gave him a serious look. Nick sent her a look back. Kat rolled her eyes again.

"The snow is so white…" Kat began to read. "There was a terrible storm…"

_There was a mass of heavy storm was getting worse and worse. It stormed around the house that they couldn't escape. Hannah stood over the sink, glancing out the window. She didn't see any sign of a good view._

_The kitchen door opened._

_Hannah settled her heels down to the floor, continuing to wash the filthy dishes. She acted like nothing happened. Her boss won't pay her if Hannah caught relaxing and watching snows outside. He disliked that Hannah sat down and do nothing. She needed to do something to make her work more. Hannah prayed that it wasn't Sam Ibbs or his wife walked in on her. Luckily, her prayer answered. It was only their daughter. _

_Estella was so kind person they ever met, always gave Hannah an easy time. She won't rat her out to her father when she caught her sitting down or snooping around. She knew her for a long time since they were little kids. They were pals. Estella was more like an older sister to her._

_"__Hey," Estella greeted._

_Hannah glanced over her shoulder, "Hey."_

_"__Need any help?"_

_"__I'm good. Thanks."_

_"__Okay," Estella touched Hannah's shoulder as she put the last glass in the sink. For few minutes later, Hannah finished the dishes. She took a dirty rag off the counter and wiped her hands._

_Estella pulled a chair for Hannah. As Hannah sat down, Estella gave her a glass of water. Hannah took a sip._

_"__So what do you think about wedding?" Estella asked all of a sudden._

_Hannah hesitated but answered quickly, "I'm happy for you."_

_Estella nodded, "Thanks, but…"_

_"__But what?"_

_"__I don't think I'm ready to marry Douglas."_

_"__Oh." _

_"__I mean. I like Douglas. I do. He is a sweet guy. But I barely know him well. It has been four months already. Now we are getting married."_

_"__If you don't want to marry him, then why won't you stop them?"_

_"__I can't. I don't want to disappoint my father. I'm his only child."_

_Hannah licked her dry lips. It tasted like salt. She didn't remember anything with salt she ate recently. "Does your father like to see you happy?"_

_"__Of course."_

_"__But you are not happy now?"_

_Estella's eyes looked down at the floor. "No."_

_"__All you need is to tell him. He will understand as long as he wants you to be happy."_

_Estella smiled a little. "Yeah, maybe you are right."_

_Hannah's response was a small nod._

_The door opened._

_"__Hannah, what are you doing here?" Sam Ibbs spotted Hannah who sat on the chair. Her face went pale as if she saw a real ghost._

_Estella stepped in. "No, father. It's my faults. I'm the one who told her to sit. She needed a break a bit before she goes back to work more. Don't worry, I can handle her."_

_Sam clenched his jaws. _

_"__She need at least five minutes break before she can go to work." Estella looked innocent._

_Sam sighed. "Five more minutes then get back to work."_

_Hannah nodded quickly. She watched Mr. Ibbs left._

_"__Thanks." She told Estella._

_"__Anytime." Estella gave her a friendly smile._

"Wow. That is so interesting story." Kat said, putting a diary down.

"Yeah, I like that Estella kid. Tell me more." Nick agreed.

"Can you skip that part to where someone who had a problem with her?" Scotty told Kat.

"No, I want to read the whole thing." Kat resisted.

"Yeah, same here." Nick defended her.

Scotty rolled his eyes, but got up and left the storage room.

"Keep reading." Nick told her.

"I would never forget a smile on her face…" Kat continued to read.

_Estella gave her a friendly smile._

_"__Friends?" Hannah smiled, held a pinkie finger._

_"__Friends then." Estella smiled and squeezed her pinkie. She then let it go and wrapped her arms around her._

_Then they broke apart._

_"__Guess you have to get back to work. See you around." Estella said. _

_Hannah watched her best friend leaving out of the kitchen. She knew how much lucky she was to have her as her friend. She was glad to meet her. They were good friends since she was twelve year old when she first worked with the Ibbs family. She was forced to send away for work to earn money to support her poor family. She was the eldest of five children. She cannot risk her own life by screwing up at her job or she will be fired. She needed this job to feed her family._

_She returned to work._

_Next morning, there was another guest party to celebrate for wedding. Hannah and the rest of the maids had to clean up after their messes and also had to serve them food._

_Mr. Ibbs came to Hannah and pulled her away from the guests, "Have you see Douglas yet?"_

_Hannah shook her head. "No, sir."_

_"__I want you to go find him because I need him right now. Dismiss." Mr. Ibbs ordered before he returned to the crowd._

_Hannah went upstairs to search for Douglas. She stopped by his room. She knocked on the door and waited for him to open the door._

_But the door was still stable and unmoved. Hannah didn't hear any footsteps behind the door. She knocked on the door again. No answer._

_Hannah slowly turned the knob to open the door, took a peek inside, and there was no sign of Douglas Rivers. She suddenly felt like a criminal when she walked into his room without his permission._

_"__Mr. Rivers?" Hannah called._

_The room was silent._

_"__Hello?" She called again. No answer again. Then she spotted a brown book lying on the king-size bed. It must be his journal or diary or something. She had an urge feeling about wondering what's going on inside. She knew she was supposed not to snoop through their stuffs but can't help it. _

_She leaned over to pick it up. She glanced over her shoulder as if she thought someone was sneaking up on her. Then her eyes returned to the book._

_She once opened the book, her eyes went wide when she read the first whole paragraph Douglas wrote. She shut the book. She couldn't believe things what he wrote. _

_That was Douglas's handwriting. She might misunderstand his handwriting. So she reread it again. She closed the book again. She wasn't misunderstanding. He wrote exactly what she thought. It was about Estella._

_She heaved on her breath. She can't believe what she just read. She wished that she should have not to read his journal. But it was too late. There was no chance to restart it. She knew she should not be in his room unless she had to clean up his room._

_She placed his book back on the bed. She hoped Douglas won't notice that book moving around._

_"__What are you doing here?"_

_Hannah jumped at the voice and whirled around to him. Douglas's arms crossed over his chest, with a hardened stare._

_"__Um…" Hannah tried to find something to make up lies on her mind. "I was just—"_

_His eyes flickered to the brown book._

_"__Are you snooping through my personal stuffs?" He said with a cold look._

_Hannah felt the cold chill running down her spine when she heard a deathly tone. "No. I was just making bed." She lied, pointing at the bed._

_"__It was already made in the morning." Douglas didn't change his expression._

_"__Yeah. I k-know. This bed was a little mess so I fixed it correctly."_

_"__Well, you better get out of my room." Douglas jerked his head toward the door._

_"__Yes, sir." Hannah respectably obeyed him. She tried to keep her distance away from the man as she edged past him._

_"__Hannah."_

_Hannah stopped but didn't turn around._

_"__You know that I'm not a fool. I know you did look in my book. It would be best for everyone if you don't tell. If you do, then you will see what happen to you after." Douglas said._

_Was he threatening me? Hannah thought. _

_"__Yes, sir." Her voice was croaked._

_"__Tell Mr. Ibbs, I will meet him downstairs in few minutes." He said._

_"__Yes, sir."_

_Hannah headed out of his room. The door shut behind her. She let out a long shaking sigh. That was a close call. She promised herself that she would never do it again. She began to scoot away._

_While she walked down the hallway, she still can't stop pondering about Douglas's threaten, about his journal, about the paragraph he wrote, it overwhelmed her head. She was afraid to know what will happen to her next if she told anyone. Will she be fired or get hurt or something else? The thoughts shook her so badly. _

_Erased her thoughts away when she nearly bumped into a snobby spoiled rich girl who was supposed to be guest, she was about nineteen or twenty years old, came out from the corner._

_"__Watch where you are going, mutt!"' She scowled at the girl. _

_Hannah ignored her as she made it to downstairs to the guest party._

Kat paused.

"Why did you stop?" Nick asked.

"Two pages are missing. Someone ripped it out." Kat reported.

"Oh great, I really want to know."

"Do you want to go ahead or just guessing what she found out about his journal?"

"Just go ahead." Nick sighed.

Kat returned to the book and read.


	3. Chapter 3

_It was a quiet Tuesday morning, it was freezing outside but the snow stopped. Inside the mansion was surrendered around by the housemaids. They were all over everywhere even first and second floors, working on to keep the house neat for the Ibbs family._

_While wiping on the black piano with a rag, Hannah still can't stop pondering hard about Doug's journals and his threatens since that one day. She didn't know what to do or how to tell Estella. If she tells her, something bad will happen to her. If she doesn't, something bad will happen to Estella. She didn't want something bad happen to her. She didn't want to hurt her. Estella was her only true friend._

_Hannah snapped out of her mind when she heard Mary Ibbs's voice when she was called on her name. She turned to Mrs. Ibbs who held a load of white clean towels._

_"__Hannah, do you mind to carry all of this upstairs? I have a lot of work to do with wedding." She said._

_"__I would please to do that, Mrs. Ibbs." Hannah politely obeyed her. She took it out of her hands and went upstairs. _

_The hallway was empty when she got there. She found the closet where there was other towels sitting on the shelf._

_As she placed a load of towels into the closet, she heard footsteps at the end of the hall. She glanced up to see who was coming._

_The smooth dark-haired with a handsome-looking guy in his black outfit, it was Douglas. He didn't see Hannah because his head was down to check on his clothes to see if something was on it._

_Hannah turned to the other side, she saw John Rivers turning around the corner, walking toward Douglas Rivers._

_Hannah wasn't sure why but she quickly went into the closet and shut the door. Everything was pitched-black. It was so dark and chilly quiet. The air was so small for her to breathe. She felt like she was trapped inside the coffin with a lock that she can't escape anywhere._

_She only heard their voices outside the closet._

_"__Hey Douglas."_

_"__Yes, father?"_

_"__How are you doing?"_

_"__I'm ready, father."_

_"__Good. Good. Good, son." She heard a heavy deep breath. "You know what, I actually did change my plan. All you do is dumps her."_

_Dump? What did he mean, dump her? John suddenly didn't want his son to marry her anymore? Hannah wondered._

_She opened the door a bit to peek to see the two men standing around in the middle of the empty hallway._

_"__You want me to dump her?" Doug looked puzzled._

_"__Let me say clear." John spoke slowly. "You marry her. Get some money. Then dump her."_

_Doug hesitated but replied back, "Yes, sir."_

_John grabbed Doug's jacket to fix it correctly. He groomed it down. He shook his shoulders, looking straight into his son's eyes._

_"__You can do it, son." John said._

_"__Yes, father." Doug said with a blank look on his face._

_"__We will meet downstairs. Go." John told him. Doug dismissed._

_John watched him leaving until he was out of his sight and then turned his head to the closet._

_Hannah ducked away when she caught John's glimpse, almost crashing into the shelf. She forced to hold her breath until the air was running out. She can't close the door because she knew John will know someone was in there if she closed the door._

_Hannah's heart beat grew harder when she heard the footsteps closer to the door. She heaved on her breath. She saw a shadow grew bigger under the door which that meant John was at the door._

_Oh god. Please don't let him catch me. Please don't open the door. Hannah prayed._

_A pause. _

_The shadow of the footsteps weren't moving. The door wasn't open. It stayed still._

_Her heart pounded hard against her chest. She was afraid he may hear her heart beat._

_Please don't get him caught me. Hannah prayed hard. Don't let him caught me._

_The dim of thin yellow lights that was spread all over the floor began to fade away slowly until the door was closed. The shadow of the footsteps under the door got smaller and smaller as he stepped away._

_Hannah let out a huge relief sigh as she slid down to the floor. That was a close call. That was terrifying._

_Once Hannah slowly opened the door to see if everything was clear in the hallway, there was no sign of anyone. No John or Douglas Rivers._

_Hannah crept out of the closet and shut the door behind her. She let out a long, slow sigh. Things about John and Doug can't get out of her mind after she heard what happened. No way would she let them to do something terrible to Estella. _

_All of a sudden, she remembered about Doug's journal out of nowhere. In the diary, it said they made a plan to end Estella's life after she gets married so they could get money._

_Now John changed the plan. All they will do was getting Douglas to marry her and then get money before they dump her and run off. They didn't have to kill her but leaving her unexpectedly hurt and at least alive. She didn't want to see Estella get hurt._

_Both John and Douglas were not who people thought of them. They were like manipulative and dirty thieves. _

_I needed to tell Estella right now. Hannah thought. I needed to warn her right now._

_"__You all right?" _

_Hannah whirled around to the young woman, Daisy. She was one of the dozen maids. She was pretty young and decent. She was only nineteen. She was a new maid recently. She was only here for few months. Her blonde hair was hidden by a maid cap. She had a concerned look on her face._

_"__I'm fine." She told Daisy._

_"__Does something bother you?" She asked._

_"__No."_

_"__What are you doing?" She said, and then she eyed on the door. "Were you hiding in there?"_

_"__No. No, it was just—" Hannah stammered. "I was putting towels in the closet. I was told by Mrs. Ibbs."_

_"__Oh."_

_"__Come on, shall we go downstairs now?" Hannah said._

_They headed downstairs. Daisy returned to work as Hannah returned to finish her job on the piano. By the time, Estella appeared in the living room, and saw her friend. She came up to her._

_"__Hey." Estella whispered. Hannah didn't know why she whispered. She acted as if they had a secret to share with each other._

_"__Did you tell your father yet about wedding?" Hannah blurted out. She didn't mean to bring it up but she was dying to know if she can dump him before they hurt Estella._

_"__Oh no, not yet." The words made Hannah disappointed. Estella noticed it. "He was busy. I had no chance to tell him. I guess it was too late anyway because the wedding was like in three days away."_

_"__It is never too late until you get married. After you get married, it is too late, then."_

_Estella nodded decently. "Yeah, you are right... I need to tell him right now."_

_"__Okay." Hannah nodded._

_"__Are you coming with me?"_

_"__Sure, only if you want me to come with you." Hannah almost sounded eager to forward to support her._

_"__Great, let's go." Estella said._

_Before they started to leave, they heard Mrs. Ibbs's voice called on them._

_"__Hannah." Mrs. Ibbs called, "Are you going to help us to organize the tables?"_

_Hannah hesitated but quickly replied in polite, "Yes, ma'am." She turned to Estella, she was about to open her mouth but Estella interrupted her._

_"__That's okay. Don't worry about me. You go."_

_"__You sure?"_

_"__Positive." Estella said._

_"__Okay." Hannah said. She watched her friend walking upstairs until she was out of the sight._

_Hannah started to follow Mrs. Ibbs into the kitchen room._

_The day went so fast. The dark night approached for an evening. Hannah finished helping Mrs. Ibbs with organizing tables and weddings. She forced to drag herself up the stairs with sore feet and hands. She had worn out so easily. She needed a rest._

_As she was on the way to her room, she stopped when she spotted on the two figures standing outside at Mr. Ibbs's door. It was Estella and John. _

_John's back was on Hannah as he stood in front of Estella._

_Estella had a serious face as if she revealed bad news to John. They were murmuring around even Hannah can't hear them clearly. So she carefully stepped toward them to get closer. She ducked behind the small round table with a tall vase of flowers. _

_"__What changes your mind that you suddenly don't want to marry?" John asked._

_Estella wrapped her arms over her chest. She cleared her throat. "I told you, I'm not ready."_

_"__Sweetie, do you realize that there is a wedding in three days. Don't you think it is too late to call off?"_

_"__Well, yeah but—"_

_"__Have you seen around? They worked so hard on the wedding, especially your mother-"_

_"__She is not my mother." She interrupted. Then she made her voice became lower. "My mother died…" _

_That was right. Hannah remembered that Estella told her that Mary may was not blood-related but acted like a mother toward Estella. Estella's mother died when she was six year old, due to fatal pneumonia. Her father really took a hard time to deal with her death. Mary first met her father when Estella was thirteen. She was the only one that made him happy. Estella was okay with him remarrying Mary as long as she made him happy. Estella only wanted to see her father happy. However when Estella got older, the relationship between her and Mary grew tense.  
_

_John nodded when he knew what Estella meant. "My apologize. Mary… she did a fantastic job with organizing tables. You should have seen it. And she sewed your beautiful gown. She really wanted to see you as a bride."_

_Estella didn't say a word._

_"__Doug is a sweet guy. You are lucky to have him. He is well brave. He treats you well, huh?" John persuaded._

_Estella said nothing._

_"__Make your father proud. He wants to see you marry a wonderful man like my son." John said._

_"__Yeah—"_

_"__Do you want your father to be happy?"_

_"__Of course."_

_"__So… make consider about wedding again. You still want to do it?"_

_Estella swallowed hard. She cleared her throat. "I guess so." _

_"__You will do it?" John spoke softly._

_"__This will make my father proud." Estella confirmed. "I will marry Doug." Her words made Hannah's heart sank._

_"__Perfect." John grinned. He held his arm for her to loop around his arm and escorted out._

_The guilt filled in as Hannah thought about John and Douglas's plan. She can't let Estella marry that guy. She had to stop her before too late. How can she stop them? They were very manipulative people. They easily fool anybody. _

_She knew the truth behind their back. _

_And she had to end it._

"There are some missing pages again." Kat said.

"That's why Estella was killed so they can get money?" Scotty said.

"Because she was wealthy." Kat added.

"At least we know who killed Estella." Lilly said.

"Hannah knew who killed her." Nick said.

"And she kept quiet and never told anyone since." Lilly remarked.

"She was smart enough to write her own diary so she didn't have to tell anyone." Scotty said.

"Maybe she hoped that someone will read her diary someday." Nick said.

"Yea… someone did." Scotty spoke. "Guess what, the secret just came out…"


	4. Chapter 4

_It was nearly midnight. The hallway was vacated. No signs of anybody walking down the halls. Hannah kneed on the floor in front of Estella's door. She tore a paper out of the notebook. She scribbled the words across the paper fast as she can. She knew it was sloppy but didn't have a time to write those words neatly in cursive. She folded it into a half before she slipped it under the door. She knocked on the door._

_Then she saw a black shadow grew larger, knew Estella was coming for the door. _

_Hannah quickly stood up and ran. She heard the door opened at the other side where she was unseen._

_Estella looked around confusedly, glancing down at the folded note. She picked it up and returned to her room. The door shut._

_Hannah let out a long sigh. She hoped that Estella got her message._

_Next morning, Hannah was in her own room. She folded her own clothes on the bed. The door left opened wide so she can see a view of the hallway or— just in case John and Douglas won't make a plan to sneak up on her and assault her from behind. She can't imagine what they would do to her or Estella. That made her skin crawl. She can't stop glancing up to the door every minute, just in case to make sure they won't creep up on her—_

_"__Boo!"_

_That caused Hannah jumped and let out a terror scream. She whirled around. Estella chuckled at Hannah's reaction. She shook her head, still can't stop chucking._

_"__You quite scared me to almost death." Hannah placed her hand on her chest. Her heart was hammering pretty hard. She thought it would explode._

_"__Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I was just saying boo, that's all. You expect me to see you every day, right?"_

_Hannah panted. "Right…"_

_Estella noticed an anxious look on Hannah's face. She tilted her head like she looked at her confusedly. "What's wrong? You seem vague and distressed."_

_"__No, not at all. I'm not." Hannah lied._

_"__You can tell me anything. You know that. We always tell each other." Estella said._

_Hannah pressed her lips tightly. Estella was right. They both were best friends. They knew each other for long time. They always shared a secret with each other that meant Estella still trusted her. _

_The whole John and Douglas thing had to stop. It had to be end now. Like she had no choice, she had to tell her the truth. She had to. Estella had the right to know. That she will make a big mistake by marrying a guy that was not who they think he was._

_Hannah flopped down on the queen size bed, "Just promise that… you wouldn't hate me forever."_

_"__I would never hate you." Estella said as she sat beside her._

_Hannah looked up into her eyes, "You promise?"_

_"__I promise."_

_"__Cross your heart and hope to die."_

_Estella cocked her head as she gave her a look. "We are not twelve year old anymore."_

_"__Just say that."_

_Estella sighed. "I promise to cross my heart and hope to die."_

_Hannah fixed a gaze at her best friend to see if she was serious or not. She made a small nod. "Remember that day you got a note?"_

_Estella formed a dazed face at her. "That was you?"_

_Hannah nodded regretfully._

_"__You made a big mistake." Estella remembered the quote from the note. "What was that suppose to be mean?"_

_Hannah sighed. "I don't know."_

_"__Y-you don't know? If you don't know, then why did you say that?"_

_"__Because, I'm trying to help you."_

_"__Help what?"_

_"__To stop you."_

_"__Stop from what?"_

_"__Marry Doug!"_

_Estella stopped and drew her head back as if Hannah spat terrible name at her. Hannah turned her head away and took a deep breath. "I overheard John and Douglas's conversation. I hope it is not true but… it is."_

_Estella stared at her hard enough Hannah could feel her eyes burned on her behind her head._

_"__John planned to get Douglas to marry you so they could get money from you and then dump you… or maybe else and I knew it will get worse." Hannah went on._

_Estella blinked. She spoke nothing. She heaved on her breath. The room was silent. She furrowed her dark brows. She looked mixed with heartbroken and confused which Hannah hated to see._

_"__Is that what you hear?" Estella finally broke the silence._

_"__I'm sorry. I am." Hannah couldn't bear to look in her eyes. Estella looked down at the floor. Hannah knew she hurt her but Estella had to have the right to know the truth. She closed her eyes._

_"__I'm such a fool." Estella murmured._

_Hannah shut her eyes more._

_"__How did it happen? How did I miss that?"_

_Hannah remained silent._

_"__Hannah… Look at me." _

_Hannah opened her eyes, turning to her. Estella's beautiful eyes held her gaze. She reached to take Hannah's hand into her own hands._

_"__I want you to know that I'm not angry." Estella said softly. "Not ever."_

_Hannah swallowed hard._

_"__You are my true friend. I always believe you. I understand that you are trying to protect me. I trust you with my whole life. I'm always counting on you. So all I wanted is say thank you… for telling me the truth." Estella said._

_Hannah let out a long sigh. That's all she wanted to hear that. It made her feel better a little. But the guilt filled it again as she thought about John and Douglas. They definitely will kill her when if they find out that she told Estella everything what she just heard._

_Estella smiled sadly. She squeezed her hand before she got up and walked over to the door._

_"__Where are you going?" Hannah asked._

_Estella swerved around to the innocent girl in the poor maid outfit. She paused. Then she spoke out. "I'm going to end it."_

_Hannah didn't say a word._

_Estella turned around and left._

"It was my last time to saw her." Kat ended the sentence.

"That's it?" Nick said.

"There are some last five pages missing." Kat said as she closed the book and waved it around in the air.

"Someone ripped it out." Scotty obviously seemed annoyed at the facts that someone kept ripping the pages out of the diary.

"So Estella meant… she was going to end it. Marriage? The plan?" Kat said.

"I wanted to know what happened at the end." Nick said.

"We have to find out what happened." Lilly chimed in.

"How?" Scotty asked.

"We will figure it out." Lilly said simply.


	5. Chapter 5

**I know I'm not great in the history class. I know almost nothing about late 1800s. I didn't know why I wrote this but it seemed interesting story to me in my mind that I really want to put it down. Nothing good on my mind came to me about 1800s so... I actually made it up a little of bit at the end in order to try to get this case to be solved. So, go ahead to read...**

* * *

Everybody was gone to home except the four detectives in the precinct who tried to figure out how to get a conclusion on the case of Estella Ibbs. Detective Stillman wasn't in the office. They knew he wasn't going home. He just disappeared somewhere, probably in the whole building. Detective Jeffries was not back from his vacation yet. He will return to work after a couple of months of vacation.

"They didn't print the reports. I meant they didn't make newspapers. There were no reports." Scotty said.

"How do I suppose to know if someone killed Estella and hid her body and no one would find out?" Lilly said.

"What if they buried her body?" Kat inquired skeptically.

"And they never found her?" Nick added.

"Hannah was alive. They made her stay silent about the murder since. She knew too much about them, how come they didn't they kill her along with Estella?" Scotty wondered.

"Figure that she was a maid? They told her that no one bothered to listen to her?" Nick said.

"However…" Kat held a diary up. "They made her to tell where she hid her diary and then ripped it up."

"If they want to hide the murder, and then why not destroy it?" Scotty asked.

Lilly shrugged. "No idea, you tell me."

Scotty pondered hard. "Either if Douglas or John found her diary and then ripped some missing pages and then hid it, and… then hid where?"

"Maybe in his own journal?" Nick made a considered face.

"Or… he hid in the somewhere else, even in other books or shelves." Kat said.

"If we can't find it, then they might burn it. But we can go looking for it now, just in case." Nick said.

"Oh, you know what. There was a small store where they kept some history stuffs from the past years. That called Old American History." Kat said.

"What time does the store is closed?" Scotty asked.

"Ten o'clock." Kat answered.

"It is only 9:29." Lilly reported as she checked her watch.

"Well, we better hurry up before the store is closed." Scotty said as he pulled his jacket off the chair and slid it on.

* * *

Meanwhile, both of the detectives walked into the store that was filled with a lot of history books, old stuffs, and music. Lilly saw a man standing behind the counter, piling the books into the shelf.

"Hey, excuse me. I'm Detective Rush, this is Detective Valens. We are the homicide detectives. May we ask you some question?"

"Um… s-sure, anything you want? What's the problem?" The man looked intense.

"Can you go looking for the dates?" Lilly said.

"Um, sure, what date?" He requested.

"Like see… 1879." Scotty replied.

The man stopped and glanced over his silver wire glasses at Scotty. He gave him a serious look.

"Don't look at me." Scotty said. "We are the homicide detectives for cold cases. We are doing our job."

The man sighed heavily. "I will try."

Lilly made a small grin as the man turned to the shelves and began to scanning dates into the drawer.

"Sorry, it wasn't available until 1900s." He said as he finished scanning the files.

"Try 1900. Behind the name of Hannah Trindler?" Scotty said.

The man returned to the files, scrambling around through the files. "Sorry. I don't see that name."

"What about John or Douglas Rivers." Lilly suggested.

"Nope, I'm sorry." The man shook his head. He closed the drawer and returned to the counter.

"They might burn it." Lilly said with a disappointed tone.

The man began to speak, "You know what. It must be related to Hannah Trindler, either it was her sister or daughter; it was under the name, Morgan Trindler. She made her own music. She made her songs into a disc in early 1900s."

"Oh yeah, can we see, please?" Lilly requested.

"Here." He pulled out a disc out of the drawer and handed it to Lilly.

"Thank you so much, mister." Lilly granted. Then she turned away from the counter and examined the disc. As she pulled the disc out of the disc box slider, some papers fell out and sprawled over the floor.

Scotty picked it up and gathered it around. "Either it was a song or poem."

"Wait a min…" Lilly said as she looked at the papers. She read the whole pages. "Hey, you know what. It may be a song or poem but it was definitely about Estella."

"How did you know?" Scotty asked.

"Here, listen. The beautiful sun fell behind as the night came… To haunt all night that you will never forget anything … No way that you can start it over… One night, the one soul was taken away…"

Scotty looked at her, "You think Hannah wrote a poem after Estella was killed?"

"Probably." Lilly gave him an uncertain look.

"Hannah may write a poem and Morgan founded it and thought it was a part of the song. So she made it into a song." Scotty spoke as he tried to determine to make a theory.

Lilly raised her eyebrows like as if she told him that he knew what she thinks. Then she turned to the man, "Do you mind if we play music here?"

"Anything you want." The man muttered as he disappeared behind the book shelf.

Lilly placed a disc on the old record player and began to play it.

The black disc whirled around and around…

_The music played as Hannah stepped away from the old record player. She was alone in the dark house with the dim lights._

_Not for a while, she wasn't alone anymore when she heard the footsteps behind her. Hannah spun around and let out a startled gasp. _

_Douglas stood in front of her, wore an angry expression on his face. His fists clenched._

_"__Did you tell her?" Douglas scowled._

_She knew what Douglas was talking about. She swallowed hard. "No, sir."_

_Douglas took a one step toward the scared and innocent girl. "I warned you… don't lie to me. Did you tell her?"_

_Hannah swallowed hard again. "She is my best friend. I won't let anything that hurt her."_

_Douglas hardened his stare. "Come with me." _

_"__What?" Hannah blinked._

_"__Come with me." He repeated._

_"__W-what are you gonna d-do?" She said with a shaky voice._

_"__Now!" Douglas suddenly leaped to grab her neck hard and yanked her along with him._

_"__Please!" Hannah begged._

_The music continued to play…_

_Estella searched the rooms everywhere for Hannah but no signs of her. She wasn't in her room, neither. Estella began to worry about her. She was afraid that it was John or Douglas did something terrible to her. She was going to tell her father about John and the marriage she didn't want it to be happened but her father wasn't in the office. She hadn't seen him anywhere. She figured that he went to somewhere for a meeting. Her house was huge like a mansion, and it only had second floor levels but the hallways were so large. It was like maze games for her. When she was younger, she easily got herself lost in the hallway while trying to search for her parents. Her mother placed every vase of flowers on the stand table to trace the trails for Estella so she would know where she was going. As she grew older, she didn't need vases anymore since she remembered or knew the ways where she was going._

_"__Hannah?" She called. No answers returned._

_She opened the last two doors and nothing was in there. Then she opened one more last door, found Hannah sitting on the guest bed with all bruises and cuts all over her. Her left eye was shallow. The blood was running down her chin, Hannah wiped it off with a blood stained towel._

_Estella let out a horror gasp when she saw her injured friend. She ran to her, placing a hand on her shoulder._

_Hannah groaned when she felt Estella's touch on her bruise shoulder._

_Estella pulled her hand away like as if she touched a hot stove. Her looks of scared changed immediately to a rage. Her jaws clenched._

_"__What did they do it to you?" Estella said._

_"__I'm fine, I deserved this—"_

_"__Was that John?"_

_"__It's not what you think…"_

_"__Was that John who hurt you?" Estella nearly yelled._

_Hannah swallowed. "No, it was Douglas—"_

_Estella let out an angry scoff and started to storm off._

_"__Estella, wait!"_

_Estella whirled around back to her. "You think it is okay for them to beat you up? I'm not allowing anybody to hurt you. I swear."_

_"__You will make it worse."_

_"__Make it worse? How?" _

_"__Look, I have three younger sisters and a brother at home. They are starving. If they dismiss me off, they will never get real food like a last time."_

_"__Don't worry. I will take care of it." Estella said as she stormed off._

_"__Estella?" Hannah called._

_Estella once stepped out from the corner, spotted on John who just came out from the bedroom at the end of the hallway._

_"__What the hell did you do to Hannah?" Estella spat words directly at him. She lifted her bottom of the dress so she won't trip over as she came to confront him._

_"__Pardon me?" John said, whirling around to the young infuriated woman._

_"__You know what I'm talking about." She snapped but tried to remain calm._

_"__I'm sorry but I don't really follow." He looked confused._

_"__Liar! I know you did it. You sent Douglas to beat up Hannah so she kept quiet. You made a big terrible mistake. You shall to be afraid because I'm going to tell my father." _

_"__Whoa, I didn't do anything with her. What's a big deal with Hannah? She is just a maid."_

_"__She is my best friend!" Estella bellowed. "You are supposed not to treat her like filth!"_

_"__Your best friend?" John echoed. Then he barked out a short scoff, "The one who served food and clean up the whole house every day?"_

_"__You have no right to say that and treat her like dirt. Shame on you!" She threw a hatred words at him as she walked away._

_"__I have no right to say?" John said. "I can have a right to say that. You are banned from seeing Hannah!"_

_Estella stopped and turned around, "I beg you to pardon?"_

_"__I forbid you to see Hannah!"_

_"__How dare you? You can't tell me what to do."_

_"__Oh yes, I will speak to your father about dismissing Hannah out of this house."_

_"__You can't do that!" Estella said angrily._

_"__Yes. I can do that! I'm your father!" John roared._

_"__You are not my father! You will never to be my father!"_

_"__Pardon me?" John yelled._

_"__You will never to become my father because I call the wedding off!"_

_"__What? You can't do that!" John raised his voice._

_"__Yes, I can, sir. I never love Douglas. He never is my soul mate. He never is my husband. You suddenly want me to marry your son because you knew how much money we have!" Estella yelled._

_"__This is not true!" John snapped. They both stopped. Estella glared at him with her rage eyes. "I know this truth…"_

_John stared at her hard with a hatred look. Estella turned to the door when the door opened. _

_"__Sweetie, what's going on?" _

_Mrs. Mary Ibbs stepped out from the same room where John stepped out and was startled at Estella's presence. Her face went pale._

_"__What the hell?" Estella was shocked to see her step-mother who was standing next to John. She realized what's going on between John and Mary._

_No… no. It can't be…_

_Estella looked at John for an answer but John didn't reply back. He just glanced down on the floor._

_"__Estella?" Mary said breathlessly._

_"__W-what?" Estella stuttered. She darted her eyes back and forth between John and Mary. "You? You and John?"_

_They said nothing._

_Estella shook her head in disbelief. "I can't believe you."_

_"__It's not what you think—"_

_"__How could you?" Estella snapped at Mary._

_Mary didn't flinch at her tone. Her face was blank._

_"__Wait a minute, is that why you try to encourage me to marry Douglas so he and John can get money and then dump me and…" Estella said. "You are a part of his plan too."_

_Mary hesitated. "Estella—"_

_Estella let out a disgusted scoff, "How could you? I mean, who are you? And do you know John? Is Douglas your son too? How long did you know this plan?"_

_"__What are you talking about—"_

_"__Save it," Mary interrupted John. "There is no use." Then Mary turned to her aware step-daughter, she placed her hands on her hips, fixing a gaze on Estella. "Okay, you caught us. You want the truth, right? John and I knew each other longer before I met your father. Douglas is like a son to me. So yes, I knew this plan all along. Happy?"_

_Estella scoffed. "Wow, I knew you are something else."_

_"__Surprise that you never doubt me since I knew you are such a clever girl. I guess I was pretty good at hiding stuff." Mary chuckled lightly._

_Estella said nothing._

_"__Look, I prefer you not to tell your poor old father." Mary said with a mocked pout tone after the last three words._

_Her words made Estella flared up, her jaws clenched. She never took her hatred eyes off her step-mother. "You never love my father, do you?" _

_Mary wrapped her arms over her chest, she just didn't say a word._

_Estella narrowed her eyes at her, "You just used him for money. You can do whatever you want when you got rich. You pushed Douglas to marry me after I knew him for few months so you guys can get money."_

_Mary hardened her stare at her. She didn't respond._

_"__Wow, that's nice of you…" Estella said_ _sarcastically._

_"__You won't tell him. I know you won't." Mary said with a warning tone._

_"__Right, as if you can stop me," Estella spoke as she whirled around to head for the stairs but John stopped her._

_"__Hey, you can't tell. Just pretend that there is nothing going on around." John claimed._

_"__Pretending? You wanted me to pretend that nothing happened and go on with happy lives? Come on, you know that I'm not blind. There is so much going on around. You just want my money and now you also slept with my step-mother who turned out to be your fraud girlfriend. Isn't that enough for you?"_

_"__Hey, I prefer us to stay between us. No one will tell. Just forget about everything what just happened." John looked like he tried to keep himself from throwing a temper on her._

_"__Forget everything? Forget that you are a filthy low-life thief?"_

_"__Hey! Don't call me that!" John growled._

_Estella said nothing, she turned around but John grabbed her wrist to make her spin around to him._

_"__You can't call it off! If you do, you will be regret for the rest of your life! You would never know what will happen to you." John's voice almost sounded threatened._

_Estella stared at him hard, barely showed her fears. She was brave enough to stand up against the powerful man._

_"__My life will be regret if I marry Douglas… your own pathetic son." Estella spoke softly. John glanced at her, his eyes were filled with surprised and shunned. His heavy hand slowly slipped her wrist._

_"__You are nothing but pathetic. You are always the pathetic man I ever know. No wonder why your wife left you at the first place." She said with a despite voice. "And…I feel sorry for you." _

_Estella gave him a final look and then she spun around to Mary, "Your behavior is pretty disgusted me. I'm sure Dad will be disgusted with you more than the truth." _

_Mary didn't say a word. Her jaws clenched hard._

_"__Turned out you are such a filthy whore," Estella said with a cold voice._

_Her words made Mary's anger fired up. Her nose flared._

_"__You guys are such a sadist." Estella lastly said words to them before she whirled around. As she approached up to the top of the stairs, she heard Mary's hatred voice behind her._

_"__Kill her."_

_All of a sudden, she felt rough hands on her back. She let out a frightened cry as her feet stumbling down. She strived to grab the railing but her feet were already off the stairs. _

_As if it was slow motion, she screamed. Her arms went wildly as she flew down._

_The horrifying of scream began to fade slowly. The whole night went quiet. Snowflakes floating outside from the view of the window. _

_The world went black._

In the slow motion, Lilly removed the disc out of the record player into the disc box slider. Scotty was waiting for her. Lilly turned to him for exit. They both were escorted out the store.

Meanwhile, Nick tucked the bunch of old evidences, papers, old disc, and the old diary into the fresh brown box. He placed a top with the label 'Closed' on the box. He gave it a gentle smack.

Kat took it and sauntered away to Detective Stillman's office where she will place it on his desk so John will receive it this next morning to give it to his friend later.

Both Kat and Nick were already gone to home. Lilly was the last person in the precinct.

As she grabbed for her coat off her desk, she saw the two young ladies standing in front of her about ten feet away.

Estella and Hannah stared at her with their angelic faces, wanted to thank her for resolving their case and found her killers.

Lilly accepted their grant. She nodded back.

The two girls both gave her a goodbye smile before they turned around as they faded away.

Gone.

Lilly slipped into her coat as she was on the way to the elevator where Scotty stood waiting for her.

The elevator door opened, they stepped inside.

Lilly was glad that her plans kept going on. She will have a dinner plan with her good friend, Scotty tonight and then go home and sleep peacefully. She knew it was pretty late but the night was still young.

Lilly had a small smile on her face.

The elevator door shut.


End file.
